Tag Archives: Israel Soldier Captured

On Sunday, U.N. official said 10 people were killed at a Unite Nations school sheltering displaced people in the southern Gaza Strip apparently hit by an Israeli airstrike even after Israel announced a possible scaling back in its operation, the Associated Press reported, Gaza: 10 dead after strike near UN school. The Israeli military had no comment on the Rafah school strike but did day it was redeploying along the Gaza border for a new phase of the operation to stop rockets fired toward Israel and destroy Hamas’ tunnel network. Lt. Col Peter Lerner, a military spokesman, explained, “We have indeed scaled down some of the presence and indeed urged Palestinians in certain neighborhoods to come back to their homes.” While security officials confirm the tunnel operation is winding down and Israel will be taking its troops out of the strip, Israeli airstrikes and tank shellings continued, according to Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra, that killed 10 people and wounded 35 after the strike near the boys’ sch00l in Rafah. Robert Turner, the director of operations for the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency in Gaza, said preliminary finding indicate the blast was an Israeli airstrike near the school that shelter 3,000 people and confirmed one U.N. staffer was killed. He added, “The locations of all these installations have been passed to the Israeli military multiple times. They know where these shelters are. How this continues to happen, I have no idea. I have no words for it. I don’t understand it.” The Israeli military said it is looking into it. Inside the compound, several bodies including children were laying in puddles of blood strewn across the ground, while some of the wounded were taken to the Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah and others were treated in makeshift clinics. At least six U.N. facilities have been struck by Israeli fire since the beginning drawing international condemnation and in each case Israel claims it was responding to militants launching rockets nearby. The death toll in these four weeks of fighting comes to 1,750 Palestinians mostly civilians killed and 70 Israelis mostly soldiers killed. Al-Kidra said 50 Palestinians were killed on Sunday including 10 members of one family in a single strike in southern Gaza with Israel carrying out a total of 180 strikes that day. Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq said: “Hamas will not accept any ceasefire deal as long as Israelis are still in Gaza Strip.” Much of Gaza has been destroyed and some 250,000 people forced to flee their homes since the war began. Rocket fired continued toward Israel Sunday with more than 3,000 rockets fired since the beginning as three civilians were killed Sunday and damaged several homes. Several soldiers have been killed by Palestinians gunman using the tunnels near Israel communities along the Gaza border. The Israeli military death toll rose to 64 after Israel confirmed Hadar Goldin, a 23 year old infantry lieutenant fear captured in Gaza, was killed in battle with his funeral later Sunday, according to Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon who is a distant relative of Goldin and has known him his whole life.

Meanwhile, in eastern Ukraine, investigators at Malaysia Airlines wreckage site on Saturday recovered more human remain and belongings, the bead of an international recovery mission stated. Toby Sterling reports, More Human Remains Recovered At MH17 Crash Site In Ukraine, Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, speaking from Kiev said 70 Dutch and Australian investigators reached the site for the second consecutive day despite fighting in the area between pro-Russia separatist rebels and Ukrainian forces. Flight 17 went down in Hrabove July 17 with what the West alleges was a Russian made missile fired by rebels killing 298 passengers and crew with most being Dutch. Aalbersberg did not give details on the remains recovered as his team continued the search for the remaining 80 victims spread over the 8 square mile area which is expected to take weeks. He thanks both sides for allowing the mission to proceed after weeks of delays due to fighting. The remains will be transferred to a facility in Kharkiv by refrigerated truck where the Dutch, Malaysian and Australian forensic experts will examine them. Then the remains will join the 200 bodies in the Netherlands to be identified. Friday and Saturday’s search focused on the area around a chicken farm near the village of Grabovo, however, this phase is complete, Aalbersberg said hoping to expand his team to full strength of 100 by Monday. “Tomorrow our goal is to move the search to an area northeast of the village of Rozsypne, where pieces of wreckage from the aircraft have been found,” he said.

On Saturday, Syrian rebels fighting in its civil war raided a border town in neighboring Lebanon killing and capturing security force member marking the most serous incursion into the tiny country during Syria’s 3 year old conflict, Bassem Mroue reports, Syria rebels raid Lebanese town, capture troops. In a statement, the Lebanese army said the rebels, who included foreign fighter, demanded to trade soldiers and police officers captured in Arsal for some of the most dangerous detainees. Lebanese army general and another officials told the Associated Press that the gunmen attacked army positions firing on troops and took control of the main police station in the town of Arsal. Lebanon’s state run National News Agency said that Arsal residents freed police officers at the station with rebels capturing some guns and releasing several detainees. In addition, the gunmen killed two residents near the police station and two soldiers with several wounded. The army statement said, “What is happening today is among the most dangerous of what Lebanon and the Lebanese are being subjected to. The gunmen kidnapped several soldiers and policemen who were spending the weekend with their families … and demanded the release of some of the most dangerous detainees held by the army. The Lebanese army will not accept that its members be hostages and will not stay silent about targeting the army and Arsal residents.” The statement said the Lebanese army “will not allow any side to move the battle from Syria” into Lebanon and “will not allow any foreign gunman to endanger the security of Lebanon or to harm its soldiers or policemen.” According to Mroue, Prime Minister Tammam Salam described the attack as a “flagrant aggression against the state of Lebanon” and vowed that his government “will deal with the developments with extreme firmness and strength.” Arsal is home of tens of thousands of Syrian refugees and rebels such as the Lebanese Sunnis in Arsal, who backed the Sunni rebels fighting against Syrian President Bashar Assad, and the Shiites, who belong to Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group backing Assad. The violence in Arsal followed the ambushing of opposition fighters by Syrian troops and Hezbollah in the Qalamoun region near the Lebanon border that killed 50 people with seven troops and Hezbollah fighters among the dead. The Syrian uprsing started as a peaceful protest against President Bashar Assad in March 2011, but escalated when the government forced violently cracked down on dissent. So far, 170,000 people have in killed in Syria in more than three years of fighting, according to Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights.

While the world watches in horror as fighting around the world intensifies, several countries are dealing with debilitating financial issues that could end up in bankruptcy. Alexander E.M. Hess and Alexander Kent reports, 11 Countries Near Bankruptcy: 24/7 Wall St., that after years of bitter court battles with creditors, Argentina has defaulted on its debts by failing to come to an agreement with creditors from its 2001 default and missing necessary bond payments on July 31 triggering the current default, according to Standard and Poor’s rating agency. However, other organizations like Moody’s Investors Service and the International Swap and Derivatives Association have not release statement confirming the default. Unfortunately, Argentina is not the only one struggling or failing to pay their debts in recent years and as a result has severely impaired credit ratings. Moddy’s currently lists 10 countries with rating of Caa1 or worse which means the country has substantial credit risk and is several notches below Ba1. The countries with the lowest ratings include Greece and Ukraine in Europe, Pakistan in Asia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Belize in South America. Even though they all have low ratings, the nations suffer from vastly different problems such as Ukraine and Egypt who recently were downgraded for political conditions, while Belize and Ecuador have upgraded in recent years based on improved financial positions. Some countries have a great deal of debt relative to the size of their economy lowering their credit rating and could potentially default. Three nations fall in this category with the world’s highest debt levels at 120% of GDP or more based on 2014 estimates such as Greece with 175% of the GDP this year which is more than any other nation except Japan, according to the International Monetary Fund. Ecuador;s government debt, according to IMF, would total 24.8% their GDP in 2014 which is exceptionally low, however, these countries do not access international bond markets regularly due to small financial sectors or debt restructuring agreements. Borrowing funds in the international bond market can be expensive with a poor credit rating due to high interest rates on the debt that investors see as riskier investments so they require greater return. A 10 year U.S. treasury note pays 2.5% annually, while Jamaica pays 7.65% annually and Greece yielded 29% on a 10 year government bond in early 2012 before the country defaulted. Inflation also causes issues e.g. Argentina, Jamaica, Belize and Ukraine issue their bonds in other common currencies such as dollar, yen and euro causing the inflation rate to be higher since the bond is issued in another countries currency and not their own which is lower. It becomes major problem in several countries with the worst rating such as Venezuela where the Inflation rate is expected to exceed 50% in 2014, according to IMF. Based on the credit ratings provided by Moody’s Investors Service, 24/7 Wall St. examined the 11 countries with credit ratings of Caa1 or worse which indicates considerable credit risk. IN addition due to many of these nations having significant debt in other currencies or weak currencies, 24/7 Wall St. used foreign currency ratings and outlooks for these nations. Figures on GDP growth, inflation, unemployment, population and debt levels are estimates for 2014 from the IMF’s World Economic Outlook.